Canelo Alvarez shows why he's still king as he scores stunning knockdown of Jaime Munguia en route to points win

05/05/2024 06:37

Canelo Alvarez proved he is still the best super-middleweight on the planet against Jaime Munguia on Saturday night.

The 33-year-old retained his undisputed 168lbs crown on Saturday night via unanimous decision with scorecards of 117-110, 116-111, 115-112 in his favour.

From the off, Munguia came out on the front foot, looking to enforce his will early doors with a sharp jab.

Canelo shelled up and glanced his adversary's shots off his guard, intermittently letting left hooks fly as he began to download information on his younger foe.

In the second round, Munguia upped the tempo but remained composed, looking to land with regularity rather than power.

Canelo returned fire with some nice right straights that snapped back his fellow countryman's head.

Munguia briefly strayed away from his jab and move strategy at the end of the third stanza as he poured on the pressure with a 10-punch combination.

As his confidence grew into the fourth, Munguia started to plant his feet and engage with Canelo on the inside, however, a crisp right uppercut sent the 27-year-old to the canvas for the first time in his career.

Munguia shook it off quickly and saw out the round but his knees continued to get buckled by Canelo's thudding shots in the fifth.

At the halfway stage, Munguia was knocked off balance by a left hook after a crafty feint from the Mexican superstar left him open to the counter.

Canelo invested to the body in the seventh round, forcing Munguia to lower his guard.

This, in turn, created an opening for the former pound-for-pound king to whip left hooks over the top as he kept his opponent guessing with plenty of level changes throughout the eighth.

Sensing that the fight could be slipping away from him, Munguia came out in the ninth looking to land six and seven-punch combinations.

In the championship rounds, he continued to press the action but Canelo remained composed and picked his shots.

Heading into the final frame, Munguia needed a knockout to get his hand raised.

But he was stopped in his tracks by several big right hands from Canelo.

An admirable effort from Munguia yet it proved to be a step too far.